St. Charles North gymnasts headed to state
The St. Charles North boys gymnastics team made some big history during Wednesday's IHSA sectional at Wheaton North.
St. Charles North won the sectional, easily ahead of runner-up Glenbard West by a score of 157.950 to 152.400. The team is the first one in the state this spring to earn a trip to state and will be just one of eight teams to compete in the state finals in Barrington beginning on May 9.
"They pulled through today," St. Charles North coach Tom Wirth said. "I couldn't have asked for a better meet with Bryan (Beth) coming back from a third degree sprain."
Beth finished fifth in the all-around for St. Charles North, which was led by sophomore Sean Johnston's third-place finish (53.2). The final scorer for the winners was Johnston's twin brother Ryan Johnston who ended up in seventh place (52.4).
"I am actually very impressed because we did pretty bad in our last meet," Sean Johnston said. "With Bryan out hurt and me and Ryan trying to control what we could do, I think we really showed it tonight and I nailed my new vault pretty good."
The North Stars didn't win any events but Sean Johnston was second on vault and high bar and Beth, who was battling through an injury, took second on still rings.
"I was a little apprehensive not knowing what I'd be able to do with vault or high bar," Beth said. "With anything coming down really. I was able to work on it and come through, besides I wasn't going to let an injury get in my way."
Geneva senior Kai Kosog finished among the top five in all six events except for still rings en route to the fourth best all-around total (53.05). He'll also be in Barrington next weekend.
"This is probably the best sports moment of my life," Kosog said. "I am so pumped to go to state again. This was another great meet for me and I'm ready to put it all into state."
Kosog's top effort came on pommel horse, where he took second place.
"I really nailed my horse routine and that was a good start," he said. "My floor was good and I did well on p-bars and vault but my score really didn't reflect that."